On Friday June 24th Minister for Health and Wellness, Senator Mary Isaac toured the Owen King EU Hospital as part of her familiarisation of major health facilities on island. Project Engineer Wendell Bernard
and Commissioning Director Dwight Calixte facilitated the minister’s two and a half hour guided tour of the facility.
Also accompanying the minister on her initial tour of the facility was her Permanent Secretary Cointha Thomas and members of the Commissioning Team for the Owen King EU Hospital.
Senator Isaac got a first look at areas such as the Special Baby Care Unit, expanded A&E Department, the new Central Sterilisation Services Department, Physiotherapy, Paediatrics, Radiology, Operating Theatres, Intensive Care Unit, Labs, Mortuary and Dialysis Unit. The minister was impressed with the work done thus far, the quality and sophistication of equipment and the general layout of the Owen King EU Hospital. She gave her impressions of the facility at the end of the tour.
“I must say, this is a beautiful facility. I am really very impressed. I believe that this is world class. It is really above all the rest that I have seen and I think it will more than meet everybody else’s expectation. We have been told that it is on track in terms of delivery time to us and I believe all Saint Lucians will be very happy to hear that. I am really amazed at what I have seen in the hospital, the pieces of equipment that are in there. The CT Scan, the MRI, all the equipment that we did not have that people had to go to Martinique, Trinidad, to the States for, we have it all inside this hospital.”
Isaac also had the opportunity to see the high quality furniture which was recently delivered to the hospital by various contractors to fully outfit the facility with top of the line ranges.
As the commissioning team gears up for the transitioning of the Victoria Hospital to the Owen King EU Hospital, the minister was informed that much more equipment, furniture and supplies such as specialised beds, will arrive in coming months.
“So I believe this is a state of the art hospital and it will do Saint Lucia well. It may even be the best in the region.” Isaac stated.
The Owen King EU Hospital is the largest infrastructural project ever executed by the European Union (EU) in the Eastern Caribbean. The EU funded both the construction and equipping of the ultra-modern care facility to the tune of EC$167 million.
The hospital is designed to be energy efficient and resilient to hurricanes and earthquakes.
